News Analysis India

Tag: BJP

  • ‘She is very close to me’: After Shah visit to his home, Sourav talks of his relation with Mamata

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah paid a visit to his residence and had dinner with his family, which grabbed attention, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly Saturday spoke of his close relation with Chief Minister, who is known to be a strident critic of the BJP.

    Ganguly, former Indian cricket team captain, also showered praise on minister and city mayor Firhad Hakim describing him as a person who can be approached by anyone at any time of the day.

    “Our honourable Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a person very close to me. I had approached her to help up this institute,” he said at the inauguration programme of a private hospital here.

    The former southpaw said, “I am also very close to Firhad Hakim. He has been seeing me since I was in Class 1. He has been our family friend. All who approach him get help. I too have called him several times,” Ganguly said.

    Shah’s visit to Ganguly’s residence on Friday had fuelled speculation that the former cricketer would join politics soon.

    The dinner was reported to be a close family affair where besides Ganguly and his wife danseuse Dona Ganguly, the cricketer’s elder brother Snehasish Ganguly and other family members were hosts.

    Shah was accompanied by BJP idealogue, Swapan Dasgupta, the party’s state president Sukanta Majumdar and the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.

    Aware of the conjectures, Ganguly had said on Friday, “Many speculations are rife, but I have known him (Shah) since 2008. While playing, I used to meet him. There’s nothing more than that”.

    He had also pointed out he had worked with Shah’s son, Jay Amitbhai Shah, in the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

    Jay Shah is the BCCI secretary.

    Dona Ganguly had said there was no discussion on politics during Shah’s visit to the Ganguly residence.

    “It is human to speculate. But if there is any news, everyone will know.”

    She had also said, “I don’t know whether Sourav will enter politics or not. But he will do well if he joins politics. I believe he will do good work for the people”.

    Ganguly had visited the state secretariat on April 28 and met Banerjee regarding allocation of land to the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), of which he is the president, to build a stadium.

    Political analyst Biswajit Chakraborty described Ganguly as a “businessman” who is trying to maintain good terms with the central and state governments so that his business runs smoothly.

    “Ganguly is doing this for his own benefit. He knows that he has to keep both the Centre and Mamata Banerjee happy so that his business keeps running. He has been balancing quite nicely,” Chakraborty told PTI.

    Another analyst called Ganguly a “perfect gentleman” who was doing a “balancing act”.

    “Ganguly is an immensely intelligent man. I guess Shah had come to his residence yesterday to evaluate how much Ganguly is ready to plunge into politics. And today, he (Ganguly) spoke about his closeness to the CM. Though I do not see any significance in it, I think he is doing it because he has to survive both nationally as well as in the state,” he added.

  • HC turns down plea to keep BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga in Haryana, next hearing on Saturday

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday turned down the Punjab government’s request of not giving BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga’s custody to the Delhi Police and keep him in Haryana.

    The court will now hear the matter on Saturday.

    The Punjab government had moved a habeas corpus petition in the High Court on Friday.

    Bagga’s counsel Chetan Mittal raised a question on his arrest by the Punjab Police and also asked how the state government could file a habeas corpus against Haryana.

    In a high-voltage drama, a Delhi Police team took the custody of Bagga in Kurukshetra after Punjab cops arrested him from his home in the national capital on Friday.

    The Punjab Police team was stopped in Kurukshetra’s Pipli, with a Haryana Police official saying they received information that Bagga was “forcibly” picked up from his residence.

    In the petition, the Punjab government accused the Haryana and the Delhi Police of illegally detaining its police officials at the Delhi’s Janakpuri police station and in Kurukshetra.

    Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain, who appeared on behalf of the Delhi Police, said the Punjab government made a request to the court that the custody of Bagga should not be handed over to the Delhi Police.

    It demanded that either Bagga be handed over to the state police or be detained where he was, said Jain.

    “The court did not accept the request and also did not pass any interim order,” Jain told PTI.

    Jain also rejected the charge of the Punjab Police that their officials were detained by the Delhi Police.

    “We told the court that we have not apprehended, arrested or detained any police officer anywhere in Delhi,” said Jain.

    Jain said an FIR of Bagga’s kidnapping was lodged on the complaint of his father in Delhi after some “unknown” persons came to their house and misbehaved with the family members.

    After the FIR was lodged, the Delhi Police obtained a search warrant from the Dwarka district court, said Jain.

    “The FIR lodged by the Delhi Police and search warrant issued by Dwarka district court, we have submitted both these to the High Court. We also submitted before the High Court that the Delhi Police has not arrested any Punjab Police official or detained anyone. Two or three Punjab police officials are in the Janakpuri police station and sitting on their own will,” Jain later told reporters outside the court.

    The information related to the search warrant was flashed by the Delhi Police in the region, after which the Haryana Police stopped a car at Pipli in Haryana in which Bagga was being taken by some people in plain clothes, said Jain.

    Thereafter, the search warrant was executed and the Delhi police took back Bagga to the national capital, said Jain.

    “We told the court that if a police officer of any state goes in the jurisdiction of any other state to make an arrest they have to give intimation to them. But Punjab Police did not involve Delhi Police nor gave them any prior information. So, the Delhi Police had no information why he was arrested and by whom,” Jain said.

    Punjab Advocate General Anmol Rattan Sidhu said the state police followed a proper procedure for making the arrest while accusing the Delhi and Haryana Police of illegally detaining its officials.

    “A proper FIR has been registered against Bagga. He has not filed any anticipatory bail. We gave him proper notice to join the investigation on five occasions but he disobeyed and did not come,” Sidhu said.

    “We sent the team to his house and a team also went to the Janakpuri police station. Deputy Superintendent of Police Kuljinder Singh was still sitting there along with his team for giving intimation since morning but the Delhi Police did not record it,” claimed Sidhu.

    The Punjab AG said the police videographed all events, including Bagga’s arrest from his home.

    “None of our police personnel pushed any family member as is being alleged,” said Sidhu.

    “Everything is digital recorded. We brought him in a proper way,” said Sidhu.

    “But when the Punjab police team was on its way back, the Haryana Police in connivance with Delhi Police stopped our police team. Three SPs and one IG along with the accused were taken to the Pipli police station,” he said.

    “We had no other option, but to move habeas corpus in the High Court,” said Sidhu.

    After the Punjab police officials were detained, the Delhi police got Bagga released from our legal custody inside the Pipli police station, Sidhu alleged.

    On search warrants, Sidhu said they will tell the court that he was under our arrest.

    Bagga’s counsel and senior advocate Chetan Mittal accused the Punjab Police of trying to project as if Bagga was a terrorist.

    Mittal said Punjab filed a habeas corpus against State of Haryana because they knew Bagga was illegally picked.

    “We will show it is totally illegal custody. How can the State of Punjab file habeas corpus,” asked Mittal.

    A counsel representing Haryana said,”We told the court that it was not an illegal detention. VT (wireless) message was flashed by the Delhi Police in the morning regarding the abduction of Bagga. We told the court that on the basis of that, intimation was flashed in all districts of Haryana.”

  • Jharkhand Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey faces poll code violation charge

    By PTI

    RANCHI: The State Election Commission, Jharkhand on Friday said it is looking into the BJP’s allegation that state Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey has violated the model code of conduct by “promising his party’s organisational positions for those who would win” in the upcoming rural polls.

    The SEC has asked the Ranchi district election officer to initiate appropriate action against the Congress leader, an official said.

    The commission’s direction came after a complaint was lodged by the saffron party on Thursday, alleging that the Jharkhand Congress in-charge has violated the model code of conduct.

    The BJP claimed that Pandey, during his party’s coordination committee meeting on May 4, had said “the Congress will try to ensure that candidates, who will win panchayat polls, will be given a place in the party so that the experience of the people’s representatives can be used to strengthen the organisation”.

    “The statement prima facie appears to be a violation of the model code of conduct. Ranchi district election officer has been asked to take appropriate action in the matter,” SEC secretary Radhe Shyam Prasad told PTI.

    The model code of conduct came into effect from April 9 with the SEC announcing the four-phase rural polls in the state between May 14 and 27.

    The nomination processes for all the rounds of elections have come to an end on Friday.

    The polls to the three-tier panchayats will be held to elect 4,345 mukhiyas, 5,341 panchayat samiti members, 536 zilla parishad and 53,479 gram panchayat representatives, the SEC said.

  • Rahul Gandhi attacks government over WHO Covid death numbers 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked the government over a WHO report which claimed that there were 4.7 million Covid deaths in India, saying “science does not lie, Prime Minister Narendra Modi does”.

    Gandhi also demanded that the government should support the families that have lost loved ones by giving them the mandated Rs four lakh compensation.

    In a tweet, he said, “47 lakh Indians died due to the Covid pandemic. NOT 4.8 lakh as claimed by the Govt. Science doesn’t LIE. Modi does”.

    “Respect families who’ve lost loved ones. Support them with the mandated ?4 lakh compensation,” the former Congress chief said.

    The WHO on Thursday stated that 14.9 million (one million=10 lakhs) people were killed either by COVID-19 directly or due to the pandemic’s impact on health systems and society.

    According to the report, there were 4.7 million Covid deaths in India, which is 10 times the official figures and almost a third of Covid deaths globally.

    India strongly objected to the use of mathematical models by the World Health Organization (WHO) for projecting excess mortality estimates linked to the coronavirus pandemic in view of the availability of authentic data, saying validity and robustness of the models used and methodology of data collection are questionable.

  • Chhattisgarh Health Minister’s complaint against Kapil Mishra for Rahul remark

    Express News Service

    RAIPUR:  Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singhdeo on Thursday filed a police complaint seeking an FIR and strict action against controversial BJP leader Kapil Mishra for “deliberately spreading misinformation against Rahul Gandhi”. Two more others, BJP’s Harish Khurana and Major Surendra Poonia are also named in the plaint filed at Jagdalpur police station in Bastar in the state.

    In his complaint the minister cited the false and malicious imputation made by various twitter handles against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. “I have recently come across various posts on social media platform ‘Twitter’, which have been grossly objectionable and offensive in nature and made by twitter handles @MajorPoonia @Kaoil Mishra_IND @HarishKhuranna.

    The twitter handles uttered false and malicious posts on Rahul Gandhi attending a party in a pub in Nepal and there he had a secret meeting with the Ambassador  to Nepal. ” The minister asking the police to take cognisance and initiate strict action against in the matter .

    Kapil Mishra in response to an FIR tweeted, ‘Why an FIR against me? Is the video of the place where Rahul had gone tarnished his image? What if the court asks to make the passport details on Rahul’s visit public?”.

    Similarly, Delhi-based BJP leader Harish Khurana, son of former Delhi CM Madal Lal Khurana, responded to Singhdeo by tweeting: “I am not afraid of any FIR. The fear of FIR cannot suppress my voice”.

    False, malicious charges: SinghdeoIn his complaint Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singhdeo cited the false and malicious imputation made by various twitter handles against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Kapil Mishra and Harish Khurana, meanwhile, have responded to the tweet. 

  • BJP behind Patiala clashes, SIT to come up with ‘big revelation’: AAP

    A clash broke out between two groups on April 29 over an 'anti-Khalistan' march outside the Kali Mata temple in Patiala.

  • SC people, others ‘unhappy’ with Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand: BJP

    Sanjay Nirmal alleged that an average of five murders take place every day in Jharkhand and mob lynching has become common.

  • J&K: NC, People’s Conference indulge in blame game over delimitation panel report

    By PTI

    SRINAGAR: The National Conference on Thursday said it was studying the impact of the Delimitation Commission report on individual assembly segments in Jammu and Kashmir but claimed the BJP and its proxies will be punished by the voters whenever elections are held in the union territory.

    However, the People’s Conference led by Sajad Gani Lone, which is seen as an ally of the BJP, accused the National Conference of providing sanctity to the delimitation exercise after its MPs participated in the deliberations of the commission.

    Redrawing the electoral map of Jammu and Kashmir, a three-member Delimitation Commission on Thursday earmarked 47 assembly seats for Kashmir division and 43 for Jammu in its final order submitted just a day before its two-year tenure was to end.

    A gazette notification was issued after the panel, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, signed the final order giving Jammu six additional seats and one more to Kashmir.

    “We have seen the final recommendations of the Delimitation Commission. We are studying the implications of these recommendations for individual assembly constituencies. No amount of gerrymandering will change the ground reality which is that whenever elections are held the voter will punish the BJP & its proxies for what they have done to J&K over the last 4 years,” the National Conference tweeted.

    However, the People’s Conference said the delimitation report is a repeat of the past and accused the NC of providing sanctity to the delimitation exercise.

    “Same traditional entities are calling the shots behind the scenes. Kashmir has been discriminated against as in the past. No change. Only degree of disempowerment is greater,” the party said in a statement posted on Twitter.

    Over the last six decades, Kashmir’s share of assembly seats in the J-K assembly increased from 43 to 47, while Jammu’s share rose from 30 to 43. Who is responsible for systematic disempowerment of Kashmiris from 1947, it asked.

    “Those who aided and abetted in the journey from Jammu’s 30 to 37 are the ones who aided and abetted from 37 to 43. Wish Kashmiri parties had stayed away and not diluted the stigma associated with a people-less process. Hope Kashmiris will remember the parties who associated themselves with delimitation process which was in essential a tool for disempowerment will always be in wonderment. How could a party which associated itself with the delimitation process be so audacious. They actually had the nerve of submitting one memorandum in Kashmir and a separate memorandum in Jammu. Ironically the memorandums were contradictory,” the People’s Conference said “The Jammu one seemed to have been copy-pasted from the Hindutva brigade,” it added.

    The party said it will go for an RTI and seek the video recordings of the meetings.

    “How those who started beating their chests outside the meeting halls were bending their back backwards to appease and please the members of the delimitation commission. Financial scams indulged in – during the last few decades cannot be squared off by covertly facilitating disempowerment of the Kashmiris. How stupid we were. We couldn’t see through the game plan. The raids. The EDs. It was all a game. A trade-off. They again bartered away the Kashmiris. The barterers are the same. When will this change,” it said.

    The party said it does not claim that the outcome of the exercise would have been any different if there was no participation of the National Conference. “But the process would not enjoy the sanctity that they enjoy now.”

  • Difficult to stop infiltration, smuggling without local administration’s support: Shah in Bengal

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that it is difficult to stop infiltration and smuggling without the support of the local administration.

    He, however, also asserted that soon a political situation would emerge wherein the local authorities would be “forced” to extend help due to public pressure.

    “The BSF has to ensure that borders are impregnable. It is their constitutional right to protect the frontiers. But it is difficult to stop infiltration and smuggling without the support of the local administration. However, we have faith that soon a political situation would come up wherein you will get that support due to public pressure. Everybody will be forced to extend all support,” Shah said while addressing a BSF programme in North 24 Parganas district.

    The ruling Trinamool Congress reacted sharply to Shah’s statement and said it is the BSF’s duty to protect the borders.

    “He is trying to put the onus on others. It is the duty of the BSF to secure the borders. The local administration has provided all help to the force,” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

    The Union home minister lauded the Border Security Force’s role in securing the country’s borders.

    “One of the main focuses of our government is to ensure the country is secured from both outside and inside. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country is moving forward in every sector as our borders are secured,” he said.

    Shah said that the Centre has come up with a five-year programme to benefit the women jawans of BSF.

    “I am well aware of the hardships faced by jawans at the borders. That is why we have come up with housing programme and various other policies to ensure that jawans get to spend more time with their families. The Narendra Modi government is committed to ensuring that our jawans work with minimum difficulties at borders. We will leave no stone unturned in solving their problems,” he said.

    Shah lauded the BSF’s role in the Bangladesh Liberation War while laying the foundation stone of ‘Maitri Sangrahalaya’ museum at Haridaspur.

    Earlier in the day, Shah inaugurated floating border outposts in Hingalganj in Sundarbans and flagged off a boat ambulance during his two-day visit to West Bengal, the first since the 2021 assembly elections. He also interacted with senior BSF officials.

  • ‘No census in Bihar till caste count’, threatens RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav

    Express News Service

    PATNA: Bihar’s main opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has threatened not to allow any census in the state unless head count of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) was conducted in the state along with those from the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes.

    Raising the old demand of caste based census in the state, RJD’s defacto supremo accused the BJP of having mindset of ‘anti-social justice’ and blamed Union MoS Home Nityanand Rai and the saffron party for ignoring the unanimous demand of the state’s political parties.

    He alleged that the BJP displayed an ‘anti-social justice’ mindset by getting Union Minister Nityanand Rai, incidentally an OBC from Bihar, to give a written statement in the parliament that the government will not take up a head count of social groups other than Dalits and Tribals in Bihar.

    “The proposal was sent to the centre after passed by both Houses of the state legislature twice. But Rai in his written reply expressed the centre’s inability to concede the demand of caste census in Bihar,” he added.

    Nityanand Rai, the BJP MP from Ujiyarpur Lok Sabha constituency, is being projected as one of the front runners of probable contenders for the chief minister’s post in the case BJP was given an opportunity after Nitish’s exit.

    Moreover, Rai belongs to the same Yadav community, which RJD’s chief ministerial candidate belonged to.

    Taking a swipe at CM Nitish Kumar, the RJD leader said that Nitish had in February this year said that the process would be initiated after holding deliberations with senior leaders of all political parties. However, the matter was thrown to the cold storage, he added.

    He said the CM had agreed to conduct the caste census from its own resources after formal denial  by the union government. Both BJP and JDU strongly countered the RJD’s allegation and said that he should know the nuances of the contentious issue.

    BJP leader and agriculture minister Amrendra Pratap Singh said Tejashwi lacked proper information. “Nityanand Rai has nothing to do with the caste based census,” the BJP minister said. “This is not a simple issue, which can be taken so lightly. It needs a good deal of exercise. There is no doubt when Nitish Kumar has made it clear that the caste census will be done in the state. He should have patience,” JDU MLC Neeraj Kumar said.